Cast:
Dennis Miller ………. Himself
The Show
Back in the 1980’s, I absolutely adored Dennis Miller: his Saturday Night Live news anchor was top-notch, and his stand-up never failed to please: esoteric pop-culture references wrapped around some basic common sense, all delivered with a touch of intelligence. I still to this day remember his line about Sylvester Stallone: “I haven’t seen an actor with that kind of range since… well, I guess I have to go back to Larry Storch on F Troop.” Hell, I even liked him on Monday Night Football (yes, that was me – I was the one guy).
Then, 9/11 happened. And everything changed for Dennis.
If you are only familiar with his work prior to September 2001, be prepared for a bit of a shock. He’s taken a decidedly right-wing stance on most issues, though he never truly veers into the mean-spirited tones of Coulter, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and the like. If you are a staunch liberal, take my advice: don’t watch this DVD. It will just upset you.
I consider myself a moderate on most issues, so I wasn’t frothing at mouth during Miller’s routine. In fact, he still brings quite a bit of his common sense approaches to complex issues, such as the deficit (“Do we actually owe somebody that money? If so, f*ck ’em – don’t pay ’em!”), criminal trials (“There should be three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty, and ‘What, are you shitting me?'”), and why the world seems to hate the U.S. (“We’re the only ones left since the USSR went under.. Of course the B-list countries will hate us.”). But his riff on global warming, his absolute blasting of James Carville, and his anti-immigrant rant seemed to be at best ill-informed, and at worst propaganda-ish. I found myself wanting to step into the screen and argue with him: not exactly the reaction he was hoping for, methinks.
Is he still funny? Yes, he’s capable of being so. I did laugh out loud four different times during the hour-long show. But sadly, knowing what he used to be served to only bring disappointment for me in what he’s become.
Score: 5/10
The Video:
The video is given in widescreen anamorphic, with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.
The Audio:
The audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.
The Extras:
None whatsoever: no trailers, no ads for his previous stand-up — nothing.
Score: 1/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for Dennis Miller: All In | |
